Nonvolatile memory cells have a floating gate for the storage of charges thereon to control the conduction of current in a channel in a substrate of a semiconductive material is well known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,130 whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,130, a split gate nonvolatile memory cell having a floating gate with source side injection and poly to poly tunneling is disclosed. The memory cell has a first region and a second region with a channel region therebetween with the channel region having a first portion and a second portion. A floating gate is disposed over a first portion of the channel region is insulated therefrom and controls the conduction of current in the channel region depending upon the charges stored in the floating gate. A word line/erase gate is disposed over a second portion of the channel region and is insulated therefrom and controls the conduction of current in the second portion of the channel region. The cell is programmed when electrons through the mechanism of hot electron channel injection are injected from the channel region onto the floating gate. The cell is erased by electrons from the floating gate tunneling to the erase gate through the mechanism of Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. The floating gate is characterized by having a sharp tip to facilitate the tunneling of electrons from the floating gate to the control gate. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,130, the control gate/erase gate performs two functions. First, it controls the conduction of current in the second portion of the channel region during the operations of programming and read. Secondly, it is supplied with a high voltage during the erase operation to attract the electrons from the spaced apart and insulated floating gate. These two functions have compromised the design of a single member which must perform both functions. Specifically, during programming and read, the word line/control gate receives low voltage whereas during erase, it must receive a high voltage.
Bidirectional non-volatile memory cells using trapping charge materials are well known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,768,192 and 6,011,725.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to overcome this and other difficulties.